More fare for ‘Prison’ pair

Adelstein, Parouse set trio of scripts

HOLLYWOOD — The producers behind Fox’s promising new series “Prison Break” are already working on their next batch of projects, setting up a trio of scripts at two webs.

Marty Adelstein and Dawn Parouse, whose Adelstein/Parouse Prods. is based at 20th Century Fox TV, have set up two hourlong scripts at Fox and landed another at ABC. All three potential skeins are being developed for the 2006-07 season.

Alphabet hour may be the most ambitious. Tentatively dubbed “21 Days,” the proposed skein from scribe Victoria Strauss will be a comedic drama about the three weeks leading up to one couple’s hastily arranged wedding.

“There will be big unexpected twists and turns, but at the heart of it will be a romantic comedy,” Parouse said.

Because of the way the couple gets engaged, all of the benchmarks of a one- or two-year engagement will happen in less than a month, from meeting the in-laws to the bachelor party. Adelstein called Strauss’ idea “the best pitch I’ve heard in five years.”

Should the project make it to air and go to a second season, Parouse said subsequent years might focus on a pregnancy or other major event in the couple’s life.

Over at Fox, where the Paul Scheuring-created “Prison Break” is off to a fast start, Adelstein and Parouse have another high-concept drama in the works. Dubbed “Vengeance,” the skein will explore what happens when “five ordinary men are given the task of assassinating five people responsible for a terrorist attack on America,” Parouse said.

“By the end of the season, all five of the (targets) will be killed, but not all five of the (assassins) will have survived.”

Adi Hasak (“Shadow Conspiracy”) is on board to write the pilot.

Fox has also bought an Adelstein/Parouse-produced adult sudser script set in the world of academia. Nicky Silver, who wrote the Sandy Grushow-produced sitcom pilot “Don’t Ask” last year, is set to pen what will be his first TV drama.

“It’s about the teachers, students and townspeople and how they’re all interconnected,” Parouse said of Silver’s sudser, which will be set in an upstate New York college.

Adelstein and Parouse said the networks’ current hunger for serialized dramas and event-style programming has been good news for their shingle, which specializes in exactly that kind of fare.

“Our brand of television is a lot easier to swallow for execs right now,” Parouse said.